Ralph Hale Mottram
Ralph Hale Mottram (October 30, 1883 – April 16, 1971) was an English writer, as a war poet of World War I, and then as a novelist, particularly for his "Spanish Farm books." Life His father was the chief clerk of Gurney's Bank in Norwich and Mottram had an idyllic childhood growing up in 'Bank House' - a magnificent George II mansion on Bank Plain - which was later Barclay's Bank and is now a youth centre. The Mottrams were non-conformist and worshipped at the Octagon Chapel, Norwich in Colegate. Mottram went from being a bank clerk in Norwich, before the war, to becoming mayor there in 1953. He also wrote a biography of John Galsworthy. He was a defender of Mousehold Heath - a large open space in the heart of Norwich. On St. James' Hill, there is a sculpture which depicts the skyline of Norwich which is dedicated to him. He is buried in the Rosary Cemetery, Norwich. Mottram once said that 'I knew, when I was four years old, exactly where I could be buried.' Recognition The Spanish Farm won the 1924 Hawthornden Prize. Publications * Repose and other verses (1907), as J. Marjoram * New Poems (1909), as J. Marjoram * The Spanish Farm (1924), a trilogy with Sixty-Four, Ninety-Four and The Crime at Vanderlynden’s * Sixty-Four, Ninety-Four (1925) * The Crime at Vanderlynden's (1926) * Our Mr. Dormer (1927), a trilogy with The Boroughmonger and Castle Island * The Apple Disdained (1928) * Ten Years Ago. Armistice and other memories (1928) * The English Miss (1938) * A History of Financial Speculation (1929) * The Boroughmonger (1929) * A Rich Man's Daughter (1930) * Europa's Beast (1930) * The New Providence (1930) * Poems Old and New (1930) * Three Men's War (1930), with John Easton and Eric Partridge * The Lost Christmas Presents (1931) * Castle Island (1931) * John Crome of Norwich (1931) * The Headless Hound and other stories (1931) * Dazzle (1932) * At the Sign of The Lame Dog (1933) * East Anglia (1933) * Bumphrey's (1934) * Flower Pot End (1935) * Journey to the Western Front Twenty Years After (1936) * The Westminster Bank 1836-1936 (1936) * Portrait of an Unknown Victorian (1936) * Old England (1937) * Time to Be Going (1937) * Autobiography with a Difference (1939) * Miss Lavington (1939) * You Can't Have It Back! (1939) * Trader's Dream The Romance of the British East India Company (1939) * Visit of the Princess - a Romance of the 1960s (1946) * Hibbert Houses, A Record (1947) * Norfolk (1948) * The Glories of Norwich Cathedral (1948) * Come to the Bower (1949) * East Anglia, a new guide book (1951) * The Broads (1952) * The Part That Is Missing (1952) * If Stones Could Speak (1953), social history of Norwich * John Galsworthy (1953), biography * The Window Seat or Life Observed (1954) * For Some We Loved (1956), biography of John Galsworthy and his wife * Another Window Seat (1957) * Buxton the Liberator (1958), biography of Thomas F. Buxton the abolitionist * Vanities and Verities (1958) * Time's Increase (1961) * To Hell with Crabb Robinson (1962) * Behind the Shutters (1968) * 12 Poems (1968) References *[http://www.authorandbookinfo.com/ngcoba/mo4.htm New General Catalog of Old Books and Authors] External links *Biographical Information *Ralph Hale Mottram and Norwich Category:English novelists Category:English poets Category:1883 births Category:1971 deaths Category:People from Norwich